


LMD battery-powered Christmas lights

by Metalsappho



Series: Metall/u/rgy [50]
Category: Metall/u/rgy
Genre: Christmas, Gen, cute drunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 06:59:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17137151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalsappho/pseuds/Metalsappho
Summary: Manganese is not happy with her boss' Christmas habits(Place in the timeline: Christmas of Year 0)





	LMD battery-powered Christmas lights

Snow was falling abundantly over the metropolis, wrapping the busy activity of the Christmas eve in a soft white mantle. For Lithium though, all of that was far away from her mind, instead, it was work, work, and more work. Work was, in fact, her Christmas eve tradition, albeit a pretty recent one. The Christmas tradition used to be, a familial one; Lithium gathered with her daughters, Potassium and Sodium, and her nieces, Rubidium and Caesium, and they would celebrate, then write a card for Francium that Rubidium would bring to her. As Potassium grew, so did her sense of individuality and that created tensions between her and both Lithium and Rubidium, tensions that nevertheless didn’t affect the Christmas gatherings. But then, Potassium left, the day of her eighteenth birthday even, and things were never the same again. They tried to hold the gathering again after that but the atmosphere was too heavy, so that was the end of that. Since then, Sodium went out for a few days during Christmas – to see Potassium, Lithium suspected – Rubidium stayed with Francium and Caesium stayed with her lover Europium. Lithium, meanwhile, just buried herself in work, trying to forget Potassium’s absence. There wasn’t a single day where she didn’t miss her estranged daughter, but on Christmas day, she got it even was worse than usual, so she drowned her worries in work. She usually drowns them in alcohol, but only when she’s with her drinking comrade Polonium.

But this time, a knock at the door interrupted her supposedly quiet working night. Quite surprised, Lithium invited the stranger to enter, and the door slid, revealing her right arm Manganese. She was a bit different from usual, Lithium noticed; she was sharply dressed in a deep purple shirt unbuttoned at the top, and black elegant pants. Lithium found her quite dashing; a nice departure from the usually austere Manganese. There was something else about her, though, an aura of determination; her body language was purposeful, and her magenta eyes were intense and intimidating, she was a woman on a mission.

Manganese greeted her boss with a respectful bow “Good evening, Mrs. Lithium.”

“Good evening, Manganese, what brings you here on this evening?”

“I came to take you out of here.” Manganese said with an unwavering voice.

Lithium was taken aback “Excuse me?”

“This is Christmas and all you are doing is working, that simply won’t do.”

“But-“

“I’ve seen that for two years already, I won’t stand for anymore of this, come on, we’re going!”

“No, we’re not, I have work to do!”

“Well too bad then, you got a Christmas dinner with me.”

“I’m not going!”

“You are going.”

“I’m not!”

“You are.”

“NO!”

Manganese leant over Lithium’s desk and stared intensely at Lithium’s green eyes “Ma’am, I deeply respect and admire you, which is why it really hurts me to see you spend your Christmases just doing artificial busywork, that’s why I’m taking you away from that study, and I will absolutely not take no for an answer. If you keep refusing I will keep asking over and over again, for the whole night if needed, better that than seeing you wither in this miserable state.”

Manganese fell silent and Lithium didn’t answer immediately; she knew Manganese could be extremely stubborn and she totally trusted her to do what she said she would. What surprised her was seeing Manganese this concerned by her well-being and especially the fact that she noticed Lithium working through two Christmas in a row, that certainly made its effect on Lithium. Lithium also had to admit that a dinner with Manganese was quite a desirable prospect. 

“Alright, Manganese, I’ll go, but only because it’s you.”

Manganese smiled “Thank you, Mrs. Lithium, I won’t waste your valuable time.”

* * *

Lithium had to admit, Manganese knew how to do dates; they were at a very good table in a high-class restaurant with a panoramic view of the city. The scenery was gorgeous, especially this evening where everything was covered in white, but the snowy landscape couldn’t really soothe Lithium’s most burning concern.

“How’s Kalium?”

“She’s doing fine.”

“You won’t tell me where she is, right?”

“She made me promise not to, also you asked me that questions countless times before.”

“I did.”

Manganese hesitated before speaking again “Mrs. Lithium…you can allow yourself to show more emotion. You’re tough as nails, and I admire that, but it’s also a good thing to open your heart …” Manganese hesitated, slightly embarrassed “maybe I’m just an employee to you, but…I really care about you and your family…and I like the think I’m part of it, even slightly. What I mean is…I want to be someone you can confide in.”

Lithium fidgeted for a minute, she had her pride, but Manganese’s words hit home. She always had a high opinion of Manganese but didn’t want to bother her with her personal woes. She put a hand on her forehead and the other in Manganese’s.

“I miss her, Manganese” she said with a voice that was not crying but definitely less controlled than her usual one “I miss her so much…I know she’s fine, but it hurts to not know more, I want to see her, I want to embrace her…I miss her smile, I miss the days when we went along so well, she trusted me and relied on me…I really regret pushing her away; I’ve always been obedient, I’d do everything I’d been told to and embraced what I’ve been raised to do…I thought she was the same, or that she would be with enough pressure, and the only thing I managed to do is alienating her, I’m a such failure as a mother!”

Manganese almost snorted at that; she had seen some proper parental failures, but that would be an inappropriate reaction if there ever was one.

Instead, she softly squeezed Lithium’s hand “You shouldn’t be too hard on yourself, things might not have gone the way you wanted but I have the feeling that things will work out, although it may not be soon. That girl…she’s a giant ball of conflicting emotions, she’s definitely a huge, moody handful, but she does care about people, even if she’s terrible at showing it, and I can assure you that she likes and misses you.”

That took Lithium by surprise “R-really?” 

“Yes, she’s often asks how you’re doing, although she pretends, she doesn’t care about you anymore, but she says that only to appease her own stupid pride. Deep down, that girl can’t lie about her feelings, even if she doesn’t understand them yet. She’s earnest in her own weird way.

“You really know her well, I’m jealous.” said Lithium almost pouting.

“Being an outsider sometimes makes you closer to someone, because you can’t take your relationship for granted, also in Kal’s case, I did watch over her since she was little.”

Lithium let out a long, tired sigh, trying to sort out all the things she has in her mind.

“Anyway, Kal stuff can wait for later, for now just enjoy the moment and loosen up.”

Lithium allowed herself a smile, no wonder Manganese was one of the few people capable of mastering Potassium.

“Very well” she said.

* * *

A few hours later, Lithium had definitely ‘loosen up’ as she was visibly very inebriated; she was significantly slower to react, spacey and physically clumsy, but she still had all her coherent thinking. Manganese meanwhile had only drunk a cup of champagne, mindful that she’d had to bring her boss home in one piece. And so, she did, she even escorted her to her room and installed her in her futon. As she was about to leave, Lithium stopped her.

“Are you leaving now?”

“Yes, my mission of taking you out for Christmas is a complete success, and I know you like privacy, so I shall not intrude further.”

Lithium stared at her from her futon, her face flushed from alcohol “Please stay here?”

“The night?” asked Manganese, quite surprised.

Lithium nodded.

“In my room?’

Lithium shook her head “Here, there are spare futons in the storage compartment.”

“Anything you wish, ma’am.” said Manganese with a short bow.

Manganese quickly set up the futon next to Lithium’s. Once she had lied down, Lithium reached out and grabbed Manganese’s hand.

“Thank you for putting up with my selfish request.” she said softly.

“It’s my pleasure, Mrs. Lithium, you can make more selfish requests to me.”

“Thank you, Manganese, I will…” her voice was barely a whisper and then she passed out from both tiredness and drunkenness, which Manganese found adorable.

“Thank YOU, Lithium.”

**Author's Note:**

> Potassium and Sodium are nicknamed Kalium and Natium respectively, but only their mother Lithium uses these complete forms, the others that are close to them call them Kal and Nat.
> 
> The LiMn ship comes from the latest type of batteries, the LMD for Lithium Manganese Dioxyde.


End file.
